Life long pals Richard Lowe and Rob Bendelow formed their first band “Lammergier” during the mid 70’s together with folk guitarist turned rock bassist Barry Yates. The name changed to “SARACEN” in the early 80’s, but the music remained the same; an ever growing repertoire of powerful guitar orientated rock, laced with lush keyboards and evocative vocals.

Escape Music have already presented you with the double CD Red Sky / Heroes, Saints and Fools (ESM124) which covers the band’s early years. The conceptual CD “Vox in Excelso” (ESM135) was released in 2006 to great acclaim and has earned the band more and more respect. In 2011 we were presented with the fantastic concept album “Marilyn” which was based on the life and times of Marilyn Monroe.

However, shortly after the release of ‘Marilyn’, Paul Bradder and Steve Bettney challenged Rob Bendelow to write a ‘back to our roots’ Saracen album. ‘Redemption’ is the result. A collection of ‘signature’ epic tracks, interspersed with heavy rockers and one beautiful ballad. It also includes complete re-works of two anthems from the 1981 debut album, ‘Heroes, Saints and Fools’ – namely – ‘Crusader’ and ‘Ready To Fly’.

Track no.2 on the album – ‘Reacher’ – was inspired by Jack Reacher, the fictional creation of best-selling author Lee Child. Lee heard an early demo of the song and felt that it captured the spirit of his 18-novel, 1-film hero!. It certainly is a great song and rocks along at a fantastic pace. Maybe it will be used on a film score at some stage in the future.

Saracen have used the expert talents of Tommy Hansen of Jailhouse studios in Denmark, a man who is no stranger to rock music circles. His work is world famous and his expertise shines through on this exciting new album.

The first record called “Pentalpha” is a one hour long song that tells a sad, romantic and very heavy -doomy story of someone’s first minutes of death. It was recorded at Inception Studios in different parts of the world ( L.A. , Stockholm , Barcelona …) and produced, mixed and mastered by Billy Anderson at SharkBite Studios ( Oakland , Ca). The release is set for October 24th, 2014 through Germany’s THE CHURCH WITHIN RECORDS ( http://www.doom-dealer.de ).

AEONSGATEis the brainchild of Jondix (guitar player and founder of Great Coven, EIght Hands for Kali and Ätman-Acron). This time he is surrounded by amazing musicians. Mats Leven (Krux, Malmsteen, Therion, Candlemass,…) is the singer and his agonic and beautiful voice makes the song as sad and dark as you can get. Joseph Diaz is the mysterious bass player who played before with the likes of Graham Bonnet, Bobby Martin,…) And finally Marco Minneman (Kreator, Necrophagist, Steven Wilson,…) on drums playing in a trance inducing sabbathic progressive way strange in this musical genre. This doom opera song mixes 70’s, neoclassical and oriental elements and will be remembered as 2014 Doom’s ultimate epitome.

A lot of doom cliches and full of surprises, this record will change you forever…

Legendary Seattle metal band, Sanctuary, has posted the artwork for their upcoming album, The Year The Sun Died. Created by Travis Smith (OPETH, NEVERMORE) the album art can be seen below.

The album will be released in North America on October 14 (October 6 in Europe) and will feature 11 tracks. There will be a deluxe media book, available exclusively at CM Distro in the United States, which features expanded packaging and the bonus track, “Waiting for the Sun”, originally recorded by THE DOORS. The vinyl version will come with a CD featuring this bonus track as well. The 11 tracks on the CD and LP are as follows:

The Year The Sun Died track-listing
1. Arise and Purify
2. Let The Serpent Follow Me
3. Exitium (Anthem of the Living)
4. Question Existence Fading
5. I Am Low
6. Frozen
7. One Final Day (Sworn to Believe)
8. The World is Wired
9. The Dying Age
10. Ad Vitam Aeternam
11. The Year the Sun Died

SANCTUARY was formed in Seattle in 1985; the band released two studio albums on Epic Records, Refuge Denied in 1987 and Into the Mirror Black in 1989. Worldwide touring with the likes of MEGADETH, WARLOCK, FATES WARNING and DEATH ANGEL, just to name a few, followed each album. Singer Warrel Dane’s sky-high vocals combined with guitarist Lenny Rutledge’s more mature take on classic thrash riffs separated SANCTUARY from the throes of metal bands struggling to get noticed at the time. Simply put, SANCTUARY offered something fresh sounding in the muddled world of ’80s thrash.

REVOCATION have spent the last eight years converting fans to their cause with four full length albums, an EP with Scion AV, and a charismatic live show led by guitarist/vocalist Dave Davidson. The Boston-based band also features the staggeringly talented lineup of: Dan Gargiulo on guitar, Brett Bamberger on bass, and Phil Dubois on drums. REVOCATION has firmly been established as one of the genre’s finest and will continue their campaign as part of the Metal Blade Records roster. Their fifth album, “Deathless,” is a fitting debut for the label, and a definitive statement of intent from the band.

“Deathless” is set for an October 14th release, today the artwork, track listing and first single which is the title track, have been unveiled. The album will be available in CD, 2LP and digital formats. Get a first listen to the song HERE and be sure to pre-order the album.

“Deathless” was recorded with acclaimed producer Zeuss at Planet Z studios in Massachusetts. The album is ten tracks of ambitious, catchy, and undeniably heavy material. Musically, cuts like “Madness Opus” showcase a more deliberate REVOCATION – restrained, if even moderately so, to deliver a slow, near-dirge like track. Alternatively, the title track highlights the diversity of Davidson’s vocals with a catchy chorus. It’s an earworm the likes of which the band had only previously hinted. The rest of the album offers a refreshing variety of music and truly feels like an “album”, rather than a collection of similar tracks. This is a refinement, achieved only through years of focusing on their craft.

Davidson adds, “Collectively, we feel that “Deathless” is our finest offering yet. The songs are incredibly varied and each one showcases a different element of the band. Technically, everyone is in top form on this record, as well, and we really pushed ourselves to deliver the best performances possible on all fronts. This is a new chapter and a new beginning for the band; we can’t wait for this record to be unleashed in October!“

Lyrically, “Deathless” addresses life on the road and the band’s commitment to touring, followed by even more touring. “Madness Opus” made its live debut when REVOCATION toured with DevilDriver and Whitechapel during the summer of 2014. Davidson discusses the track: “The crowd response for that tune has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s one of the heaviest songs we’ve ever written, hands down, and has been a blast to play live. Lyrically, it’s about one of my favorite HP Lovecraft stories, “The Music Of Erich Zann”. Fans of unnamable cosmic horror and punishing death metal will not be disappointed!“

Revocation begins touring in support of “Deathless” in September with Crowbar in North America, followed by a full European tour with new label mates Cannibal Corpse and Aeon. Much is more is set to come – this is the beginning of a new era for Revocation.

Like this:

CONVENT GUILT announces today the artwork of their much anticipated debut full-length “Guns for Hire” which will be released on LP by Cruz del Sur Music and on CD by Shadow Kingdom Records. As you can see, the painting of these four heavy metal horsemen riding onto a barren horizon hints at the best graphic tradition of classics such as MANILLA ROAD, CIRITH UNGOL and other obscure and timeless classic hard rock and metal.

This is what CONVENT GUILT from Sydney, Australia amply delivers: it sounds like a mix of the glorious and gritty ‘70s hard rock, the darker side of the NWOBHM and early ‘80s heavy metal from both sides of the Atlantic. Formed in 2010, the Guilt released their initial 4 track demo in mid-2012 and recently recorded their debut LP ‘Guns for hire’. Featuring veterans of the Aussie metal scene, CONVENT GUILT is a relatively new name – but it’s destined to conquer the heart and soul of any fan devoted to the early 80s metal sound.

Raw, dirty and yet terribly catchy guitar riffs (some even hinting at early AC/DC!) will carry you back to the golden age of metal: song titles such as “Angels in Black Leather”, “Desert Brat” or “Perverse Altar” tell more of what you will get in this album than any words could… CONVENT GUILT‘s filthy vocals and its massive rhythmic section finally produce an overdose of muddy rock and roll that will find its best expression during savage live shows. This is an album that smells of dust, sweat and energy – basically what metal is made of!

Virginia’s long running epic metal legends are commemorating their 25th year with the release of their sixth full length album »Suspended At Aphelion« via Nuclear Blast this October. »Suspended At Aphelion« is undoubtedly their most ambitious, epic, and progressive album so far featuring a single track divided into 11 parts, performed by the entire»Fear Of Infinity« line-up as well as several esteemed guests, including FATES WARNING alumni drummer Mark Zonder and co-founding guitarist Victor Arduini – uniting two eras of FATES WARNING for the first time ever.

WHILE HEAVEN WEPT mainman Tom Phillips offered more insight into the album: “While most of our albums have been thematic, this is the first time we’ve released something entirely of a conceptual nature in the grand tradition of FLOYD, GENESIS, RUSH, MARILLION, MAIDEN, KING DIAMOND, QUEENSRYCHE, and of course FATES WARNING…and musically, this album falls somewhere in the middle of all of that with a touch of Viking-era BATHORY as well”

The signature sound of WHILE HEAVEN WEPT remains fully intact, yet has evolved; Phillips explains: “We’ve always been characterized by emotional sincerity, bombast, sweeping melodies, and dense orchestration, and »Suspended At Aphelion« is no exception – however, this really is another level for us in that it’s the first album featuring all-new material composed in this decade (as opposed to previous releases which often culled from years of archival material), it’s full of twists, turns, modulations, time changes, harmonic content rarely heard in metal, and tons of counterpoint. This is all augmented by actual cellos, violins, classical guitars, an array of percussion, and genuine analog synths.”

“Over the last few years, we’ve had some audiophiles reaching out to us regarding the “loudness wars”, so we were very much committed to delivering an album with a wide dynamic range, with very little peak reduction or compression…insuring it was as dynamic and organic as possible versus being Pro-Tooled to death or overtly compressed/limited for loudness…not unlike our labelmates SATYRICON, who definitely impacted our approach to »Suspended At Aphelion«…so you may have to turn it up compared to “X album” from 2014, but we feel like this epic journey is even more gratifying because of this.”

»Suspended At Aphelion« tracklisting:

I: Introspectus

II: Icarus And I

III: Ardor

IV: Heartburst

V: Indifference Turned Paralysis

VI: The Memory Of Bleeding

VII: Souls In Permafrost

VIII: Searching The Stars

IX: Reminiscence Of Strangers

X: Lifelines Lost

XI: Retrospectus

The cover art for »Suspended At Aphelion« was once again created by Gustavo Sazes (MORBID ANGEL, ARCH ENEMY etc), and three separate audio masters were optimized for LP, CD, and digital download formats.

WHILE HEAVEN WEPT also reunited with producer/engineer Kevin “131” Gutierrez (RAVEN, DECEASED, DYSRHYTHMIA) at Assembly Line Studios for the recording of »Suspended At Aphelion« 12 years after creating their classic »Of Empires Forlorn« album together, solidifying an already strong team for their most epic of epics!

»Suspended At Aphelion« will be released by Nuclear Blast on October 24th (EU) and October 27 (USA).